


College Necessities

by eggwarmers



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drug Use, F/F, I love fluff, lapidot - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-10-28 12:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10831686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggwarmers/pseuds/eggwarmers
Summary: College au, Peridot is a GTA, Lapis is an under performing design student, both of them are discovering how they feel about each other. Mostly fluff





	1. Chemistry

“You see, the thing about rust is that it’s not permanent. It’s just a layer of metal that has been corroded by moisture in the air, and can be removed.” Lapis lazily wrote down notes, vaguely following what the graduate teaching assistant (GTA) said. Instead of thinking about her chem lab, her mind was at the beach, last summer. The Good TimesTM

. The warm sand between her toes, the salty water clearer and bluer than any other water she’d seen, the lack of deadlines and homework and stress of school. It was only a month ago, but it felt like an eternity. 

“Lazuli!” 

Lapis’ head bobbed up, her eyes wide, obviously caught off guard. 

“Yes?”

“Do you know the answer to the question?” The GTA, Peridot, a prodigy of sorts, was not much older than her, but acted much younger when she wasn’t lecturing on chemistry. A smile tugged at the corner of the assistant’s mouth, which annoyed Lapis. She was enjoying this? Lapis hastily scanned her notes, looking for any indication of a question. Finding nothing, she looked back up at Peridot. 

“No. I don’t.”

“Ok, well then maybe this will serve as a reminder to listen in class next time.” 

Lapis felt the eyes of the class on her, a few snickers, and sank down in her chair. The rest of the class passed without incident, but with a lot of glances from Peridot to make sure that Lapis was paying attention. Lapis gave her wide eyes and a sarcastic nod every time she looked. 

It figures that the stuck-up GTA would pick on the girl with blue hair who sat in the back of the room. Turns out that college isn’t that different from high school after all. 

“Lazuli, could you stay back a minute?”

The light voice caught her off guard in the doorway. Turning around, Lapis couldn’t see much behind the swarm of bodies trying to exit the classroom. She took a sidestep and allowed the flow of people to pass her, then went back inside. 

The small girl was leaning with her back to the front desk, usually covered with notes that she used while teaching, but were now neatly inserted into a folder that sat comfortably on the corner. Lapis trudged over to look Peridot in her bespectacled eyes. 

“What?”

“Your performance in class and during tests has been lacking, Lazuli. I recommend that you put more work into this course outside of the actual lecture and lab times in order to improve your scores.”

“Ok.”

“You know, I could tutor you one-on-one if you want.”

Peridot’s eyes went down when she said that, and her finger tapped nervously on the desk. Lapis thought of her other classes, and how much time she spent studying for all of them. Being a design major was a difficult thing, between the weekly sketches and drawings, and the group projects, and those were just the classes necessary for her major alone, not even considering basic core. It’d be nice to have someone to help her, even if it was this stuck-up (albeit cute) grad student.

“That would be cool. When are you available?”

Peridot’s face broke into a grin. “I’m usually in the library between three and six on weekdays, working on stuff for my studies.”

“Cool, I’ll see you there.”

\-------------------------------

Lapis arrived at the library at 3:30, backpack stuffed with sheets of notes, hair disheveled from an all-nighter working on an art project, and walked into the study room area. This part of the library had glass-walled rooms with whiteboards, and normally either sleeping students or students hopped up on too much coffee hastily scribbling out answers to homework that would be due in a short time. However, as she passed each one and glanced in, she didn’t see the short-haired blonde. 

A shout rang out from across the room, “Lazuli!” and was immediately shushed by many voices. Lapis turned to see the girl waving frantically from the other side. Lapis stretched her face into a tired, fake greeting smile, and made her way to her. 

It seemed like she had been there for a while, there were papers scattered on the table, with what looked like sketches for a ship of some sorts. She only got a glance at them before Peridot scampered in behind her and began to clear it off. 

In a single breath, the grad student said, “Ok so I think where we should begin is significant digits, because on pretty much every problem you do them wrong. Next we need to go into an introduction to chemical equations, because that’s what the class will be going into for the next test, which, by the way, is two weeks from now, which means that we need to get working hard and fast.”

Lapis blinked, then chuckled. “Hard and fast, huh?”

Peridot’s face turned red, and her expression turned sour. “You know what I mean.”

The two worked on practice problems and went over previous test questions for a few hours, and in a one-on-one setting, Lapis noted, Peridot wasn’t an intolerable snob. She was rough, sure, but genuinely wanted to help her understand. And that was more than she could say about her other instructors. 

Lapis looked at her watch: 7:40. 

“Hey, didn’t you say you’d be here until 6? It’s past 7:30.”

“Oh, crap! I had a meeting for mock trial. Well, it’s too late now, do you have anywhere else to go?”

“No, but I’m getting hungry, I think I’m going to go get something to eat.” she paused. “You want to join me?” 

Peridot lit up. “Yeah!”

When they left the library, conversation turned from stoichiometry to themselves. 

“So what is your undergrad degree in?” 

“Oh, mechanical engineering. It’s a cool thing to have, but an undergraduate degree doesn’t really get you anywhere, especially if you have absolutely no experience. But where are you supposed to get experience if nobody will hire you?” 

Lapis snorted, “You must’ve got that degree pretty quickly, how old are you? You can’t be that much older than me.”

“21.”

“No shit. I’m 20. You should be a sophomore. Did you graduate high school _and ___

__college early?”_ _

__“Yeah, I’m kind of a big deal around here.”_ _

__“Obviously, that’s why they stuck you GTA-ing an intro-level chemistry class.”_ _

__Peridot fell silent for a beat, then said slowly, “Look, I don’t have a lot of friends around here, people tend to find me annoying for some reason, and there’s this thing this weekend, and I’ve got a plus one, would you want to go with me?”_ _

__Lapis’ eyebrows almost hit the sky. “Woah, out of the blue there, I didn’t know we were getting into Deep Talks TM_ _

__.”_ _

__Peridot adjusted her glasses to avoid eye contact. “By my estimation, we have been talking alone for hours, it’s only logical that our friendship has progressed to the point of invitation to events.”_ _

__“Friendship? You’re my teacher, for God’s sake!”_ _

__“GTA, I’m also a student, just further along in my studies.”_ _

__Now was Lapis’ turn to fall silent for a beat. “What is it?”_ _

__“What is what?”_ _

__“The event. What is it? You never said.”_ _

__Peridot stumbled a bit, then caught herself. “Oh, it’s a movie showing in my dorm. _The Martian _____

____. I’ve heard that the physics behind the film is air-tight.” She said that as if it was the best quality a movie could have._ _ _ _

____Lapis thought about it, and was about to respond, when she felt a drop of water hit her nose. She looked up, and felt more._ _ _ _

____“Maybe we should get out of this rain.”_ _ _ _

____“What rain?”_ _ _ _

____Immediately, the downpour started. Single drops became tens, became hundreds, became thousands. The two girls ran, one hastily covering her backpack with her jacket, the other kicking off her shoes and holding her dress. They met under a big tree, both soaked despite their best efforts. They plopped down their backpacks, and sat with their backs to the trunk. Peridot did her best to dry out her hair to make sure that it stayed in perfect form, and seemed to get angry when it didn’t. She grumbled and just shook her head to get it as dry as she could. This coated Lapis in more water, at which she laughed._ _ _ _

____“Why are you laughing? This stinks. Now I have to rewrite all my notes.”_ _ _ _

____“Maybe, but just listen.”_ _ _ _

____The two fell silent. Lapis loved the sound of rain, it always calmed her down, an unrelenting force that served to balance between life and death. She closed her eyes._ _ _ _

____“So is water, like, your thing, or whatever?”_ _ _ _

____“Yeah, it’s kind of my thing, or whatever.”_ _ _ _

____“Then you’ll love the physics of fluid dynamics…” The girl chattered on about how fluids move in containers, and Lapis passively listened still with eyes closed, feeling the most content she had felt in a long time._ _ _ _

____“I’ll go with you.”_ _ _ _

____“And when this wave intersects anoth- wait, what?”_ _ _ _

____“I said I’ll go with you to the movie.”_ _ _ _

____Peridot’s face lit up again. Lapis couldn’t see it, but she could hear it in the way her voice changed. “That’s great! It’s this Saturday at 8 p.m. in Gem Hall. Guess I’ll see you there?”_ _ _ _

____“Guess so.”_ _ _ _

____At this, Peridot stood up, prompting Lapis to open her eyes. The rain had begun to falter._ _ _ _

____“I should probably be off, you know, stuff to do, people to see, papers to grade.”_ _ _ _

____Lapis turned up a corner of her mouth. “Of course, you’re kind of a big deal around here.”_ _ _ _

____“That’s right. See you Saturday!”_ _ _ _

____The grad student scampered off again, shielding her bag with her body, back towards the dorms. Lapis watched her like a cat, perplexed. She wasn’t used to feeling genuine happiness, and from her of all places. After a bit, she also picked up her stuff and headed back toward her dorm, only thinking once she walked in the doors, _wait, did we even go get dinner? _____ _ _

________ _ _ _ _


	2. Highs and Lows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis invites Peri to a college party, it's her first time faced with the college party experience, Lapis helps her though it. Sorry, this is a long one. I had lots of fun writing it, it accidentally turned into something that could easily stand on its own.

“A… a party?”

“Yeah, nothing huge, just a thing with a few close friends. I told them you were cool, so you’re good to go.”

Peridot had never been to a college party before. Sure, she had seen the movies before, and knew that most of the time there was alcohol, sometimes marijuana, and almost always there were cute girls. She felt her heartbeat speed up. 

“Yeah, of course I’ll be there! I’ve been to a few parties in my time.”

“Yeah, sure you have, nerd. Just be at this address by 10 tomorrow.” She stuffed a piece of paper into Peridot’s hand, and turned away to leave.

Peridot watched her go, her long dress flapping as she walked to her next class. A party. She would have to check what to wear online, and make sure that she looked good. Like, really good. 

She ran to her car, trying not to stumble too much.

\----------------------------------

It was Friday, the party was on Saturday. Peridot did the math in her head quickly, factored out travel time, and a good six hours of sleep, and came up with 20 hours to prepare. 20 hours to make the perfect outfit, think of the perfect stories to tell, the perfect snacks to bring. Did Lapis say to bring snacks? Peridot couldn’t remember now. Everything had to be perfect. Lapis said that is was a smaller function, with some close friends. Peridot had to be likeable, she had to make a good impression so that they liked her. If Lapis’ friends didn’t like her, then they could convince Lapis that Peridot was lame, and that she should stop hanging out with her. 

This made Peridot’s blood run cold. 

Over the last few months, Lapis and Peridot had become a little closer than just helpful GTA and lazy student. They were… friends? Peridot couldn’t pin down their relationship. But whatever it was, it was good. Peridot loved being around her, Lapis calmed her down. Usually she worried about everything, but around Lapis, she was able to take it easy and slow down a bit. 

“Like I should be doing now,” sighed Peridot to her empty room. She closed her eyes and fell back onto her bed, took a deep breath. Two. Three. In. Out. In. Out.

She could do this.

Throwing on a Mozart CD she got for her birthday last year, Peridot opened her laptop to grade. Grading always helped calm her down. It was something mundane, something mindless, yet still required her attention. Back when she was an undergrad, she would turn to her textbooks, practicing calculus or chemistry or opening up a CAD program and designing her dream house - she nicknamed it “The Gem Cave,” as she planned for it to be located on (and in) a nearby hill from Gem Hall.

Peridot took a deep sigh. She’d be okay.

\--------------------------------

In the morning, Peridot took a quick shower, donned her glasses and a monogrammed towel (a graduation gift from her parents) and went to pick out an outfit for that night. Eventually, after maybe too much pacing and hair pulling, she decided on a t-shirt with one of her favorite bands on the front, cutoff jean shorts, and black flats. 

A suitable outfit, Peridot thought, for a night of festivities. A night of most likely alcohol, maybe marijuana, and definitely cute girls. Peridot shot herself finger guns and winked in the mirror.

She spent most of the day trying to distract herself, whether that be through video games, re-watching her favorite season of _Camp Pining Hearts_ , of just thinking of Lapis. Peridot found herself doing that much more often nowadays, and had yet to figure out why. Was is because she wanted her to succeed at school? Was she worried about her friend’s academics? Well, yes, but that didn’t seem like the answer. Instead of thinking about how she could (and should) improve her grades, Peridot was thinking about how she got her hair to look that blue, and how her makeup always looked like she didn’t care, but she definitely put a lot of work into making it look like that. Was it because Peridot idolized Lapis? Children think a lot of their heroes, was this similar? No, definitely not, Peridot knew that most of Lapis’ behavior was self-harmful at best. Regardless, Peridot was perplexed by her own mind, usually something she could figure out.

Peridot left early, 9:15 p.m., planning to be there 20 minutes early. 20 minutes early, Peridot thought, was the perfect time to be there. Early enough to help out with setup - and potentially make a good first impression - but late enough to not seem like a creep. Scientifically tested over years of going to dinners and conferences. 

When she arrived, there didn’t seem to be anything going on. Two cars in the driveway of the old, one-story house: one purple, one blue (Lapis’), and not much else. Peridot parked on the side of the road, and went to knock on the door. 

A few seconds after she knocked, a voice yelled from inside the house, “I’ll get it!” and Peridot stepped back, plastered on her best smile, stood tall (as tall as she could), with her hands politely folded in front of her. An unknown woman opened the door.

She was short, the same height as Peridot, with a bushy ponytail dyed purple at the ends and dressed in black tights, an off-white tee, and a ragged jean jacket with the sleeves rolled to her elbows. She blew a bubble with her gum, and said tiredly, “Yeah, what do you want?”

Peridot stuttered, she was staring too long. “I-I’m Peridot, Lapis invited me?”

Then, solace from this intimidating presence: Lapis’ voice drifted through from further in the house.

“Amethyst, who’s at the door?”

“Just some girl named Peridot? Says you invited her to my humble abode.” 

“Oh, let her in, she’s the one I said was cool.”

“Martian lady?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah, okay, come in.”

The short woman, Amethyst, stepped out of the way, and Peridot entered the house.

It was...dirty. To say the least. Peridot was no clean freak, but _damn_. The door opened up into the living room, which consisted of two couches and a television, separated from the kitchen by a chest-high counter that also served as a bar to the left of the entrance. A corridor trailed away directly across from the door, presumably to bedrooms, a bathroom, and (maybe?) a laundry room. Piles of clothes littered the floor, which once was a nice cream rug, but now more closely resembled a rag that one might find in the pocket of a plumber. 

“Do uhh… do you live here with Amethyst, Lapis?”

“No, she’s a slob all on her own. I live down the street.”

Amethyst threw a pillow at her. “Hey, I’ve got my own organization. You heard of feng-shui?”

“Heard enough to know that this isn’t it.” Lapis rebutted, tossing the pillow back, “You know, we should really clean some stuff before everyone else shows up, there’s no space.”

“Ugghhhh, fine, buzzkill. Hey Martian dork, you wanna help us out?”

Peridot was inspecting one of the couches, looking for any place to sit that wasn’t covered in clothes or garbage. It was a difficult task to say the least. She was shocked out of it by the inquisition. “Oh, yeah definitely! Anything I can do to help!” This was her in, Amethyst would like her if she helped out before the party. 

\----------------------------------------

It took forever, and anyone that showed up on time (two people, a skinny short-haired girl in a leather jacket, and her...date? A taller, tan woman with huge pink hair and a lip piercing), were more than happy to help out. In the case of the short-haired girl, she seemed to be appalled by the state of the house, and immediately took to cleaning without an invitation. 

The real party started when the booze showed up, along with the music, in copious quantities. Peridot took sips from a keg beer while roaming the room, feeling out of place.

\-------------------------- 

At midnight, the bong came out, among scattered cheers.

Peridot had never had any marijuana in her life, for a variety of reasons, but was open to being a part of the cool kids for once. Instead of the typical lighter apparatus, however, these people were using a vaporizer stuffed with weed. Her eyes followed it around the room, passing from hand to hand as people took rips left and right. Lapis, who had plopped herself down next to her on the couch closest to the window, plucked the glass contraption out of the air before Peridot, and took a long breath in, bubbles appearing and the neck fogging until Lapis pulled out the vape, and the smoke disappeared. Lapis puffed out her cheeks at Peridot, making her giggle, and blew the smoke into the air above them. 

Lapis then held out the bong to her, a knowing look in her eye. “Don’t worry, it’s not that bad.”

Peridot nodded, and took it from her. Peridot tried to emulate what Lapis did, dreadfully aware of Lapis' eyes on her. She held the bong awkwardly, wondering how people even look cool when holding such a huge glass object like this. She breathed in cautiously, feeling herself pull air through the water, and begin to fog up the neck. When it was sufficiently full, Lapis reached over to pull out the vaporizer, helping her friend who VERY obviously had never used a bong before. Peridot breathed in the smoke, clearing the bong and feeling a tickle in her throat. When she breathed out, the tickle became a scratch became a knife became a coughing fit. 

Fortunately, the music at that point was loud. She doubled over, her fist in front of her mouth, her eyes watering and her breathing coming in short gasps.

_This is it. This is where I die. Am I having an asthma attack? Do I even have asthma? I should never have come here, I should have just stayed at home and watched a movie or something._

Then, it slowed and stopped. The tickle was still there, but her coughing ceased. 

"That was a bad one, huh?" Lapis hadn't moved, and was seemingly unsurprised by Peridot's reaction. 

Peridot's face, red from her fit, scrunched up indignantly.

"I haven't used a bong in a long time, it's only natural that that happen."

"P, you can drop the act, it's cool if it's your first time." Lapis leaned back on the couch, putting her foot on her knee and her arm behind the couch.

Peridot's face got redder, this time from some other feeling - maybe anger, maybe embarrassment - and she handed off the bong to the next person, who seemed like he was probably high before coming over to the party. He eagerly snatched it from her hand.

She folded her arms and leaned back, too. After a beat, Lapis, absent-mindedly tapping her foot to the music, asked, "Hey, you want to dance? I love this song." 

Peridot froze. "Dance? This is a house party, how do we dance together? Aren't people just dancing by themselves?"

Lapis laughed, tipping her head back. God, how Peridot wanted to caress the gentle curve of her jaw. Wait, what? "You know, I always wondered that myself. Why do people say stuff like that if they're not dancing together? But no, it'll just be us dancing near each other."

Peridot blinked twice, taking a moment to file that thought in her memory to deal with later. "Yeah, let's go."

The song was _Waste_ by Foster the People. An upbeat song with a quick, hard-hitting tempo. Easy to dance to, and lots of people were taking advantage of that fact. The area between the couches and the opposite wall was filled with bodies, some holding beer bottles, some holding phones, some holding other bodies, all moving to the beat.

Peridot wasn't normally a fan of dancing, it was an art form which she never truly grasped. It required the poor soul who attempted the act to make no effort at all to move to the beat in a graceful way, but also not look stupid while doing so. Peridot wasn't good at either, so she usually stayed far away from the dance floor. That is, if she had ever been to a party that wasn't a high school dance. Here, however, taken by the music and the beginnings of an alcohol buzz, Peridot followed Lapis to the center of the room. 

She bounced and swayed, a safe middle ground between dancing and standing that would be acceptable, Peridot mused, focusing on her feet so that she didn't step on anyone's feet, or they hers. Then she heard Lapis laugh, and looked up, glasses sliding down her nose. She pushed them back up to her eyes, and saw Lapis, completely at home between the music and the people and the lights. Lapis spun around, her trademark ankle-length dress following her as an afterthought. 

Peridot looked stupid by comparison. 

After the song, Peridot went back over to the kitchen to grab a couple shots. She needed something to calm her down; she was overthinking again, trying to micromanage her every word and movement. She downed one before Lapis found her, grabbing the other out of her hand.

"Oh, sweet, thanks." She upended it quickly and easily, making a face and then smiling at Peridot. "Ahh, nectar of the gods. Having fun yet, nerd?"

Peridot made what she thought was a confident face, and said, "Yes, this is a suitable get-together for someone of my caliber. Impressive, Lazuli."

Another laugh from Lapis, this time Peridot couldn't be sure if she was laughing at her or with her, and she was beginning to suspect the former. The only comforting thought about that was that Lapis was definitely under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana, and should therefore not be completely held accountable for her actions, however they made Peridot feel.

Peridot felt her face get slightly red again, and went to find a seat on the side of the room, as far away from the dance floor as possible. She ended up on the other couch, legs and arms crossed, next to a couple that seemed to be in a threesome with each other and the bong. They took turns kissing and taking hits, blowing smoke everywhere. One person was tall and lanky, with bushy auburn hair arranged into a messy mohawk on the top of his squarish head, the other was shorter, with shoulder-length bleach-blonde hair. An odd couple, opposite in pretty much every physical way. After a moment, they noticed Peridot next to them, and the tall lanky one offered Peridot the bong. Peridot glanced over, then took it without looking. The lanky one offered his hand, too. 

"Hi, I'm Lars, and this is Sadie. Business and English." 

Peridot looked at them out of the corner of her eyes as she breathed in deeply. This time, the tickle was smaller, enough to get rid of after only a couple subtle coughs. She shook Lars' hand.

"Peridot. Grad student. Mechanical engineering."

Lars' eyes widened, "Woah, a big shot. You're a little young and short to be a grad student."

Sadie elbowed him, "Lars! What he means is you look very young for your age."

"No, he's right. I'm 21. I graduated early because I'm really good at what I do."

They both laughed. This one Peridot was sure about, definitely caused by drugs. She hadn't said anything that could have been taken as a joke. She took another hit, allowing her brain to slow down, leaning back and closing her eyes. Just listening.

\----------------------

She laid there for a long time, or at least it felt like a long time. It felt like an eternity. The music had changed what had seemed like hundreds of times, and Lars and Sadie had moved off of the couch, to be replaced by a guy in sunglasses and a red leather jacket. 

Who wears sunglasses at night? At a party?

Peridot looked around the room, taking inventory of everything happening. She wished things would just slow down so that she could see it all, try to make sense of it all. She furrowed her brow, and liked the feeling of moving her face muscles, so she made some faces to the room. Then she remembered that she was looking around, but couldn't remember why. Then she saw her. 

She moved in slow motion. The music, oddly enough, seemed to pass too quickly, but her body, twisting and moving to beats that were so minute, yet so perfect, moved in slow motion. The lighting did nothing to help either, it was dark enough to let the colorful LED chains strung up around the room pop, yet just bright enough to reveal Lapis’ form. As her eyes moved from her body to her face, Lapis’ eyes met hers. Peridot saw her laugh, the sharp peal that cut through the music came later, and Lapis began to make her way over to her. She saw her sit next to her, her hands so close, her hair in a perfectly planned mess. Peridot watched her lips, how they moved when she talked, and thought about how many times she had thought about kissing them, about biting them. She was ashamed of these thoughts, as she prided herself on how well she could compose herself, her feelings. She pushed them out of her mind hastily.

Then, a moment of panic. Was she saying something? Peridot remembered that she needed to listen, and tuned in.

“...have a friend that had the same reaction her first time. It was even more hilarious because she wasn’t anything like you. Imagine John Cena, but half as many memes, and huge hair.”

After a momentary lapse into thinking about the professional wrestler, and humming his theme, Peridot smiled at her own stupid mind and said, “What?”

“Oh, you were spacing. You’re pretty far gone, dude. Let’s try that again.” She began to speak more clearly, making direct eye contact to make sure her words got through, “You were staring with your mouth wide open. If this is too much for you, I can get you out of here and over to my place. It’s close enough to walk, and you probably shouldn’t be driving.”

After a beat to process what Lapis said, Peridot shook her head, a little too much. 

“No-no-no, I’m good here, buddy. This is the best time I’ve had in a long time.”

Lapis smiled, looked at her watch, and said, “Ok well regardless of how you’re feeling, we’re leaving at 2, mostly because I’m tired.” Peridot nodded. Her eyelids felt heavy too. Weird how that can happen, eyelids didn’t even weigh that much, how could they be heavy?

She let them droop, then come back up. Droop, then come back up.

“Ok, P, looks like you’re the same way. 2 o’clock, got it?”

Peridot nodded again, smiled, and gave a thumbs-up. She closed her eyes.

Another eternity passed. Not sleeping, but thinking. Everything that she heard triggered a thought, and she remained on each for a hot minute.

A body collapsed right next to her, and Peridot sat bolt upright and turned to look at the person who had disturbed her ... meditation?

She was met with Lapis' bloodshot eyes and a stereotypical party "Wooooooo!"

Peridot smiled and woo-ed back at her, it felt good to make noise. She put her arms up, too.

She felt her mouth make the words, "This is a great party!" but doesn't remember telling her mouth to say that. 

Lapis replied positively, nodding violently and almost spilling her red solo cup: another stereotype. "Do you want to dance again?"

Peridot had a sudden pang and an urge to say no, but couldn't figure out why she would have such a negative reaction to dancing. Pushing those aside, she nodded.

They moved out to the center of the room again, this time with far less people, as many had traded in their dancing shoes for slippers, falling asleep on anything horizontal. The bulk of the party now remained in the kitchen and partially spilling into the living room, slow-moving and much more chill. The music had changed genre slowly but surely, now playing The xx. Lapis danced just as fluidly, although she was more careful to not step on bodies. She had also lost her shoes and socks, dancing barefoot on the carpet. 

Peridot realized that feet don't need shoes, and immediately took them off. Holding them in her hand, she thought of places to put them. She glanced around the room. Ah, the corner, by a sleeping Sadie. She worked her way through the minefield of bodies, moving deliberately, and set her shoes next to the girl. Then she turned back to see Lapis, head cocked, looking at Peridot. Peridot worked her way back to her. 

When she returned from her perilous journey, she started dancing. Lapis joined in after a beat. 

It was... freeing. Motion without limits, without rules. Well, it was The xx, so there’s only so much in the way of dancing to be done. But hey, they were high, and it was music, so they danced their hearts out. 

\-----------------------------

Lapis’ watch beeped. 

The sound was jarring, and it signaled an ending. Of course Peridot didn't realize that at first, she just thought that it was an odd sound to add to the song playing at the moment. Peridot saw Lapis glance down at her watch, and pull herself, then Peridot up from the couch. 

"You know what this means, right?" 

"Cake time?" Peridot was starving. Why wasn't there any more food here?

"Nope, leave time." Lapis took Peridot's arm and led her toward the front, waving goodbye to an utterly shitfaced Amethyst and the remaining conscious guests. When they got out the front door, Peridot thought about how cool the concrete of the front steps were on her socked feet.

"Wait, Lapis, my shoes."

"Oh, shit. Hold on." She returned to the house.

When the door shut, Peridot was left with the most silence she had been around since leaving her apartment hours earlier. Just left with muffled music, crickets, and the sound of wind flowing through the leaves. Peace. Peridot took a deep breath, and looked up at the sky. There were only a few gaps here and there through the ancient trees, but it was enough. 

Back when Peridot was little, there was only one thing that would truly interest her: space. And what science-y kid wouldn't love space? Infinite possibility, the harshest conditions imaginable, physics out the wazoo, anything that pretty much any type of engineer could ever want. 

She was shocked out of her trance by the closing of the door, and a "Hey, doofus, we gotta get going." and closed her mouth. How long was it open? Peridot hoped she didn't look too stupid.

Getting on her shoes was a different matter, that she definitely looked stupid doing. Eventually she succeeded, and they went on their way.

\-------------------------------

“You know, you’re a really pretty.”

“A really pretty what, Peridot?”

Noticing what she said, Peridot laughed a little too hard and clapped Lapis on the shoulder. Peridot bent over to maintain her balance, and Lapis stopped to let her catch up. Wheezing, Peridot finished her thought: “A really pretty girl, dummy, why don’t you have any significant other?” Peridot was proud that she said “significant” correctly.

Lapis’ looked at the ground and became silent. 

“I’m not looking for anyone at the moment, mostly because my last relationship was pretty terrible.” She eventually said, once again jerking Peridot back to reality. She seemed to be doing that often tonight. 

Peridot smiled and pointed a thumb at her chest. “Well, you know that if you ever need to talk about it with someone, I’m here for you, Lazuli.”

Lapis shot her a side look and a half-hearted smile. “Thanks, P.”

\------------------------------

"You can sleep there, there's a blanket and pillow on the chair over there." Lapis said, pointing to an overstuffed couch. "It's a pullout, but I'm usually too lazy to set it up, the couch version is just as comfortable."

Peridot collapsed onto the piece of furniture, already half asleep. But then she remembered to thank Lapis. Wait, how should she do that? A simple thank you didn't seem like enough, Lapis was watching her all night to make sure that nothing bad happened, she deserved something more. A hug? Maybe, but Lapis didn't seem like someone that particularly liked hugs. 

An idea popped into Peridot's head, and a plan to execute it.

She shot up from the couch, or, more accurately, tried not to die falling off of the couch, and called out to Lapis, who was walking to her own bed. Lapis turned, rubbing her eye. 

"What is it now, Peridot?"

Peridot stumbled over to her, and grabbed both of her shoulders, dragging Lapis down to her eye level. She made intense eye contact, the kind that comes from only people who are high or drunk, and Peridot was a bit of both. 

"Thank you, Lazuli, for tonight."

Lapis was uncomfortable, at the very least caught off-guard by Peridot's actions. She actively tried to look anywhere else but Peridot's gaze. "Yeah, it was no problem, but hey, what are friends fo-"

"Can I kiss you?"

Lapis' eyes grew wide, and she finally met Peridot's.

"Wow ok, so you're that kind of person when you're high. I didn't peg you as a romantic, Peridot."

Peridot shook her head, breaking that stare. She wasn't taking this seriously. "No, it's something I've thought about for a long time, and I think it would be a good decision for the both of us. I could give you the whole pitch when I'm sober."

Lapis stifled a laugh, and said, "You know what? Sure. Gotta admit, I'm that kind of person when I'm high, too. So go for it, stud."

Peridot's heart sped up. To dangerous levels. She leaned in...

And it was over. A quick peck, nothing more. She let go of Lapis' shoulders, spun on her heels, and went back to her makeshift bed. After a moment, she heard Lapis' door open and shut.

Peridot let herself fall into eternity one more time, this time all the way until morning.


End file.
